Comments Off on Nature-inspired housing mimics the curvature of the landscape in Chongqing

International design practice Safdie Architects recently completed the Eling Residences, a nature-inspired housing development built to look like an extension of the highest plateau of Eling Hill in Chongqing , China. Elevated high above the Yangtze River, the residences are nestled in a densely forested environment yet enjoy close proximity to the city. In addition to optimizing residents’ access to natural light, ventilation and greenery, each unit is also equipped with a private balcony for indoor-outdoor living. Completed this year in the city’s Yuzhong District, the Eling Residences cover an area of 460,000 square feet with 126 apartments. The architects took cues from the existing slope to develop the various building designs, which change from terraced structures at the bottom of the hill to a pair of freestanding dome-shaped villas near the top. The stepped configuration and layout also helps ensure that every apartment enjoys uninterrupted views of the landscape. In addition to the apartment units, the Eling Residences also features a four-story clubhouse, multiple pools and additional recreational areas. According to the architects, these amenities not only help build a sense of community but are also reflective of the firm’s commitment to design spaces with humanizing scale and vibrant social atmospheres. Unlike the concrete jungle that defines much of Chongqing, the Eling Residences feels like a retreat into nature thanks to ample landscaping, organic curved forms and the use of a natural materials palette . Related: A sprawling green roof fuses this community center with Chongqing’s mountainous landscape “Complementing the sloped low-rise buildings is an intricate landscape system, which interweaves terraces , gardens, trellises, overlooks, stairs and promenades throughout the site,” the architects said. “The combination of landscape and architecture works together to evoke the character of lush, hanging gardens, integrating the project site with the green oasis of Eling Park. The terraced levels maximize residents’ access to light, air and greenery, while architectural screens partially shade individual apartments, extending living spaces outward into the garden landscape.” + Safdie Architects Via ArchDaily Images via Safdie Architects, by ArchExist

Zaha Hadid Architects is bringing its modern, sinuous designs to Malta, a nation renowned for its historic sites. Set to become the tallest building in the country, the Mercury Tower will soar to 31 stories and a height of 112 meters in Paceville on the main island’s northeastern coast. The mixed-use tower will twist to separate the programmatic functions and optimize views of the sea. Zaha Hadid Architects’ Mercury Tower will take over a 9,405-square-meter site that had sat unoccupied for more than 20 years. The site is also home to the old Mercury House that dates back to the early 20th century. In addition to designing the strikingly modern Mercury Tower, the architects have been working with Malta’s leading conservation architect to renovate the area’s heritage structures, including the old Mercury House facades, and reuse the existing historic interiors for gathering spaces and as an entrance for the new apartments and hotel. Related: Chris Briffa Architects’ Sustainable Hanging Home Features a Green Roof in Malta The Mercury Tower’s new public amenities — such as cafes, shops and a large piazza with interactive water features — will be set alongside the refurbished Mercury House. The tower comprises nine stories of apartments below and a 19-story hotel volume above. The residences will be aligned with the street while the larger volume stacked above is rotated to position hotel rooms toward the Mediterranean Sea for better views of the water. This rotation — located at the 10th, 11th and 12th floors — also helps reduce solar gain. The insulated facade and carefully positioned glazing also improve the building’s thermal performance and ensure comfort for residents, workers and guests. Zaha Hadid Architects concluded in a statement, “Marrying a variety of public, residential and commercial functions together with the creation of a vibrant new civic space, the redevelopment of Mercury House includes the renovation of derelict heritage structures and responds to the demands of the island’s future socio-economic development.” + Zaha Hadid Architects Images via Zaha Hadid Architects, by VA

Comments Off on These stunning student housing apartments are inspired by tiny homes

Student housing has come a long way since the days of crowding two roommates into a confined space with a couple of beds and a single desk. Case in point: this impressive student housing complex designed by Amsterdam-based firm Standard Studio that uses the principles of tiny home living . Located in Rotterdam, the Hermes City Plaza apartments offer 218 beautiful 200-square-feet units incorporated with various multi-functional and ultra-efficient features. The purpose of the project was to create housing for first year Erasmus students who are new to the city. Looking to go beyond the usual cramped and cold student housing , the architects decided to create a series of independently functioning units, which are all less than 200 square feet. Inspired by the tiny home movement , these apartments feature space efficiency, natural light and smart storage. Related: Why these floating dorms made from shipping containers are the future of cheap student housing Each unit comes with a fully equipped living space, meaning there is a full kitchen and bathroom. No more flip-flopping it to the typical shared community bathrooms! The apartments have an open layout that connects the living room to a small kitchenette and dining area. Space efficiency was essential at every step and forced the designers to get creative. There wasn’t enough room to put a full sink in the kitchen, so the team installed one large sink that straddles the kitchen and the bathroom. A half-partition that separates the two spaces pulls double duty as a mirror for the bathroom and a chalkboard for the kitchen. All the cabinetry was custom-built out of renewable bamboo , and LED strips light up the space when natural light isn’t available. The design takes advantage of vertical space with high ceilings and a sleeping loft . The loft is reached by stairs and has built-in closets and shelving. In fact, most of the apartments’ furnishings provide dual functionalities. The living room, for example, has one large multipurpose unit that incorporates a sofa, a desk and storage. The space offers students a feel of independent living, but there are some shared amenities meant to foster a strong sense of community. Residents can enjoy a rooftop terrace , music room, TV rooms, a laundry area and a communal study area. + Standard Studio Via Treehugger Images via Standard Studio

Comments Off on Herzog & de Meuron designs a Horizontal Skyscraper for Moscow

Building on an urban waterfront often means compromised views for existing structures, but that’s not the case for the “Horizontal Skyscraper” in Moscow . As part of an urban revitalization plan for an abandoned historic brewery, Herzog & de Meuron unveiled designs for two new residential blocks that will be elevated 115 feet into the air and supported by slender white stilts. By raising the contemporary additions, the Swiss architects guarantee coveted panoramic views for residents and a preserved visual connection between the historic buildings and the Moscow River. Founded in 1875, the brick-clad Badaevskiy Brewery buildings that fell in disrepair after in the 2000s will be restored and renovated for new retail and community ventures such as a food market, clothing shops, a co-working space, gym, and childcare facilities. Herzog & de Meuron will lead the six-hectare heritage building restoration effort in addition to the new “Horizontal Skyscraper” envisioned as “a piece of city lifted up in the air.” Related: Herzog & de Meuron are upcycling a historic gasometer into a stunning residential tower The glazed and raised residences will comprise approximately 1.1 million square feet of apartments with glazed facades and private balconies. Eight “sky villas” on the upper level will also have private roof access. The architects have also planned for a new pedestrian-only public park that sits beneath the apartments and around the supporting stilts that the designers likened to “trunks of trees.” + Herzog & de Meuron Via ArchDaily Images via Herzog & de Meuron

Huge circular windows flood the interior of this funky apartment block in Melbourne with natural light. BKK Architects designed the Cirqua Apartments as a series of staggered volumes that reference the region’s historical housing while reinterpreting it in a modern way. The block occupies a steeply sloping site in a residential neighborhood in Melbourne. Its exterior is dominated by huge porthole windows that span almost the full height of the six cubes. The openings bring natural light into the interior and maximize the connection of the project to the surrounding garden. Related: 6,000 Circular Windows Flood Japan’s Kanazawa Library With Light The open-plan interiors feature a lot of natural materials and warm colors, with circular light fittings echoing the circular windows. White walls, marble and wood create a delicate visual balance. Beside its remarkable design features, the project also creates a precedent in the area’s multi-residential market. It was built to appeal to owner-occupiers rather than buy-to-let investors. + BKK Architects Via Dezeen Lead photo by Peter Bennetts

Mexico’s stunning Riviera Maya looks nothing short of paradise, but its beauty has also proven a burden on ecological preservation. With the Yucatan Peninsula’s booming tourism and environmental degradation in mind, Zaha Hadid Architects designed Alai, a residential complex in the Riviera Maya that embraces luxury but still maintains low environmental impact. Inspired by local Mayan culture and architecture, the nature-filled development will also contribute to restoration of native flora and fauna. Located on a site prepped by a previous owner for an unbuilt project, Alai will minimize its environmental impact by limiting the combined footprint of all its residential buildings to less than 7 percent of the site’s total area. The architects also plan to repair the previous owner’s damage to the site. Zaha Hadid Architects will collaborate with landscape architecture firm Gross Max and use replanting to repair the landscape, reverting the remainder of the site into a natural state that includes a woodland nature reserve and coastal wetland. To this end, the architects designed an onsite botanical nursery that serves as an attraction and tool for site restoration. Related: Sleep in sustainable luxury inside this eco-friendly jungle treehouse Alai’s luxury apartments as well as sport, leisure, and wellness amenities will be set on an elevated platform just above the canopy so as to not disturb local wildlife crossings. The apartments offer four different floor typologies, all of which enjoy ample amounts of natural light, natural ventilation , private balconies, and unobstructed views to the Caribbean Sea or Nichupté Lagoon. The sinuous and textured facade draws inspiration from local Mayan masonry and the rich natural environment. + Zaha Hadid Architects Via WAN Images by firms credited in titles

Comments Off on Worlds first Nordic Eco-labelled apartments completed in Copenhagen

The world’s first Nordic Eco-labelled project just wrapped up construction in one of Copenhagen’s most desirable areas. Designed by Danish architects Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects and COBE , the award-winning Krøyers Plads development infuses a historic site in the center of the Copenhagen harbor with contemporary, eco-friendly construction. The five-story housing project meets stringent levels for sustainability and is nearly 40 percent more energy efficient than the legal requirements. Krøyers Plads occupies a coveted waterfront site—next to the world’s best restaurant, Noma , and opposite the Royal Playhouse—that had sat empty for years due to disagreements over the best ways to handle the historically and culturally sensitive site. Given the site’s reputation as an architectural and political battlefield, Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects and COBE’s award winning design is a major breakthrough. Created through a process that the designers call “hyper-democratic,” the development is a modern interpretation of the rows of 300-year-old industrial warehouses that sit perpendicular to the harbor. Related: House of Food Culture in Copenhagen will bring together food lovers and cooking aficionados “The neighbours were for instance invited to help define the height of the buildings and to help select the materials – both crucial for the way the new Krøyers Plads relates to its surroundings. Instead of inventing a new building typology, Krøyers Plads became a reinvention of the one already found adjacent to the site – the industrial warehouse,” says Dan Stubbergaard, Founder and Creative Director at COBE. Krøyers Plads’ three five-story housing units comprise 105 apartments ranging from 79 to 250 square meters in size that overlook the water. The ground floor houses restaurants, shops, and a supermarket. The apartments are the first in the world to achieve the Nordic Ecolabel and recently won the Green Good Design Award in January 2017. + Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects + COBE Images via Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST

Comments Off on Man-made islands create a calm marina at the heart of the Pearl of Istanbul

Forum Studio designed the Pearl of Istanbul to encompass a whopping 1,660,000 square feet, positioning it to become a landmark destination. Situated on a natural bluff overlooking the Marmara Sea, the Pearl looks like another sprawling luxury resort, but project leaders insist it will remain accessible to the public at large, with affordably priced apartments and hotel rooms , with retail spaces and restaurants at the ground level. The land portion of the Pearl will consist of several sculptural towers right on the shore, with landscaped terraces and spectacular views of the marina below. Related: Istanbul unveils $1 billion green super-development Of course, the jaw-dropping marina is the part of the design getting most of the attention. A string of floating, man-made islands creates the perimeter of the marina, where a staggering 500 boat can dock as well as terminals for cruise ships. The islands will double as a seawall, ensuring calm waters inside the marina while reducing the environmental impact on marine habitats. The cultural significance of the project is not lost on its designers. In a statement, Forum Studio describes the importance of a develop of this scale: “The Pearl of Istanbul is at the heart of this transformation. Envisioned by Turkey’s business and civic leaders, and designed by the urban planning and architectural design team at Forum Studio, the Pearl marks Istanbul’s rebirth as a global destination.” + Forum Studio Via ArchDaily Images via Forum Studio

Comments Off on This solar-powered Green Village in South Africa will be completely car-free

Architecture firm Swisatec just announced plans to build a self-contained “Green Village” in Cape Town, South Africa that will be completely car-free and powered by solar energy. Taking up approximately 40 hectares of land, the village will contain 1,000 apartment units, as well as all the amenities its residents need to conduct their daily business, including doctors’ offices, boutiques, schools, and more. The new Blue Rock Village isn’t going to be developed completely from scratch: instead, it’s an upgrade of the existing Blue Rock Resort, set beside an iconic Cape Town lake at a former quarry site. While cars won’t be needed to travel through the Village, residents still need to find a way to get there – it’s a half-hour drive to Cape Town proper. The development will include underground parking for residents, tucking their cars out of sight until they need to travel. Related: Low-tech alarm protects South African slums from devastating fires The apartments available range from one to four bedrooms, and will be made completely from eco-friendly and nontoxic materials. All appliances will be A++ rated energy efficient, and the units will be lit throughout with LEDs . The buildings even include features to manage water usage and will be able to run on self-generated solar power . Swisatec estimates the project will cost a staggering 14 billion rand, or $900 million US. Construction will start in September 2016. + Blue Rock Village

Comments Off on See inside NYC’s first micro apartment building + transforming furniture for tiny spaces

Video: Little Darling Productions with Jason Jenkins for NYC Media The winner of New York City’s 2013 adAPT NYC competition to design the city’s first micro unit apartment building, Carmel Place is now almost ready to welcome its first tenants. Designed by nARCHITECTS and developed by Monadnock Development , Carmel Place is a 55-unit, modular apartment building located at 335 E 27th Street in the Kips Bay area of Manhattan. The pilot project was first introduced under the Bloomberg administration in order to address the demand for affordable single- and double- occupant dwellings in the city. RELATED: VIDEO: NYC’s first micro apartment building is almost ready to open “This is going to be the first new construction building with units under 400 square feet that the city has seen in decades,” said Tobias Oriwol, Project Developer at Monadnock Development. “This type of dense living is really the next step of sustainable design and construction in the city.” The unique prefabricated building offers 250- to 370-square-foot apartments with some of the affordable units renting for as low as $950 a month . Market-rate studios start at $2,000. “The building is conceived of as four micro towers starting with a white brick going to a black brick, sort of four shades of grey,” said Eric Bunge, a principal at nARCHITECTS . “We really wanted the design to represent the vibrant community so we designed it so that you conceive the building as a kind of microcosm of the city or micro skyline.” Image: nARCHITECTS The modular pods that make up the building were prefabricated at the Brooklyn Navy Yard before being shipped to the site, saving money, time and energy. To further support its inherently sustainable design that encourages population density, efficient living and usage of public transportation, Carmel Place was also designed to target LEED Silver certification. “Some of the most interesting things to me about this project are the things you can’t see,” Bunge told us. “This apartment comes with transformable furniture such as this couch that can become a bed but this unit will also come with other furniture that can transform. Every square inch is usable. It’s a unit that feels a lot more than it is, and we think there are great opportunities out there for people to innovate in this space.” One of those people changing the way New Yorkers utilize and maximize their small spaces is Roberto Gil, founder of Casa Kids and Casa Collection . We visited Gil at his Red Hook, Brooklyn studios to check out his latest innovation, the Urbano Loft Bed . The king-size bed’s clever configuration is perfect for studio apartments because it breaks up a single room into a lofted sleeping area, an enclosed office with an additional twin bed, as well as two closets, a desk, dressers, a nightstand and even open shelving. RELATED: VIDEO: Casa Collection’s new Urbano Loft Bed is the answer to your small space storage problems “People like being in the city so they sacrifice space for proximity, which also requires new furniture. I think my designs speak to to the need of New Yorkers and other urban dwellers,” Gil told us. “My designs are very much oriented to modular furniture . The idea of making things in smaller components gives you the flexibility of rearranging them. I try to think not just what my customers need today and tomorrow, but in a few years, how it’s going to evolve as kids grow and family needs change. It’s about being able to use it for many years.” We hope you enjoyed this episode of Urban Green with Inhabitat NYC. Stay tuned for new episodes on NYC TV Channel 25 and on our YouTube channel if you’re not in New York. + Carmel Place + Casa Collection + Urban Green + NYC Media